This invention relates to an abnormal condition displaying system of an engine cooling system for an outboard motor and more particularly to an improved display of this type.
Many types of outboard motors are provided with liquid cooled internal combustion engines. Due to the relative simplicity of an outboard motor, the engine does not have any significant number of gauges or indicators and hence, it is very rare that an outboard motor may have an engine temperature indicator gauge. As a result, the operator may not know if the water intake for the outboard motor becomes clogged and coolant is not delivered to the engine for its cooling or is delivered in a restricted manner so as to not adequately cool the engine. In order to provide a visual indication to the operator that coolant is flowing through the engine, it is a normal practice to provide a small bypass line in the water return from the engine cooling jacket to the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. This bypass line discharges the water rearwardly of the transom in a small amount so that the operator can always determine that coolant is flowing through the engine.
However, there is a type of outboard motor wherein the lower unit is not provided with a forward/neutral/reverse transmission and wherein reverse operation is accomplished by pivoting the outboard motor through 180.degree. about its steering axis. When this is done, however, the water bypass will fall either on the transom or inside of the hull, obviously undesirable results.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved abnormal condition display for an engine cooling system for an outboard motor wherein the aforenoted problems are avoided.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an abnormal display for an engine cooling system for an outboard motor wherein the operator can, upon selection, shut off the display for a variety of reasons including avoiding the spraying of water within the watercraft or upon himself.